Karachi, 23rd September 2015: Natural gas production in the country per day is approximately 4 billion cubic feet against accumulated demand of more than six billion cubic feet and the solution lies in liquefied natural gas (LNG).

With less discovery of significant gas reserves in the country, two billion cubic feet gas shortage leads to hours long load-shedding of gas supply, long queues at CNG stations and gas cuts to fertilizer plants, said Chief Executive Officer, Elengy Terminal at Port Qasim, Syed Mohammad Ali during an interaction with media here on Tuesday.

He maintained that despite all efforts by the government including the import of natural gas, the shortage could not be plugged within next couple of years as demand for gas was increasing fast.

“The country has limited options for alternates and fuel displacement,” he maintained.

Elaborating the affordability and suitability of LNG as a fuel, he said domestic sector tends to overcome natural gas shortages by using LPG or Kerosene as substitutes. Both the fuels were inherently unsafe for domestic use against natural gas or LNG, and were also expensive replacements, he said.

Pakistan has power generation capacity of up to 820 MW which operate on dual fuel– diesel or natural gas. In case of gas shortages, these power plants became inoperative or were to be shifted on diesel (HSD). In 2014-2015, 2.8 Million tons of HSD was imported. On any given day, diesel (HSD) is also more expensive than LNG. LNG remains a cheaper option from a cost-to-economy perspective. LNG when compared with HSFO is more efficient in power generation, leading to lower operational, management and transportation costs.

He said according to estimates, Pakistan is expected to save as much as $ 1 to $ 1.5 billion per year by importing 1BCF of LNG and replacing LPG, HSD, LSFO and HSFO.

He spoke of LNG Terminal constructed by Engro (Pvt) Limited and defended the LNG terminal tariff.

The success of the ETPL project will benchmark all future projects in the country in terms of the high quality, standards, service and competitiveness offer, the ETPL CEO said.